Portable lighting is used in homes where wired power is not easily available. Older homes that predate the modern era of ubiquitous computing and electronics, and have limited access. Owners of such homes often desire lighting in an area but wish to avoid lengthy extension cords.
To achieve their lighting goals, home owners have resorted to battery-powered lamps. However, even modern battery-powered lamps are not sufficiently bright, or have inadequate battery life to function for a significant time. They also tend to be esthetically undesirable, as they are not intended for daily use, but occasional temporary situations, such as a power outages or camping.
Even those cordless lighting solutions that are offered on the market for permanent household solutions are simply not bright enough, such as those offered by Modern Lantern, provide LED lighting equivalent to only a standard incandescent 40 W bulb. (For an example of these products, see United States Patent Application 20120188754, Cordless Decorative Lamp, by Stephen Travis Fitzwater.)
Additionally, battery-powered lamps eventually run out of power, even those using more energy efficient LEDs instead of incandescent bulbs. Users of such products must be prepared to either change out batteries, cease using the lamp until it is recharged, or continuously monitor battery charge levels.
Finally, battery-powered lamps tend to have the same problem that all lamps have, in that they often waste power and light by shining light toward walls instead of living areas. In situations where AC power is readily available, this is often a non-critical aspect of operation, but in limited DC systems, the waste of battery power has the very real result of shorter battery lives.
The lighting market needs high quality lighting systems that provide lighting equivalent to at least 60 W incandescent bulbs, and meet the challenges of battery power source replacement and recharge as discussed infra.